September 12, 2010

Columnists Corner

Tom Powers, St. Paul Pioneer Press: Too bad they don't sell alcohol at TCF Bank Stadium. For that matter, it's too bad they don't sell opiates. Gopher Nation definitely was ready to float away from Saturday's football horror against something called South Dakota.

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: Two games into the season, and it feels like UCLA is already two feet under. With upcoming games at Texas, California, Oregon, Washington and USC, this already feels like a team teetering on the brink of the worst thing that can happen to a sports team in Los Angeles.

Vince Bonsignore, L.A. Daily News: It was only a matter of time before Rick Neuheisel's charm and charisma led to exceptional teams, great wins and conference titles for UCLA. And to think, we actually bought into that nonsense.

Bob Wojnowski, Detroit News: It's only two games. Take it and run. That's what Rich Rodriguez is telling his Michigan team, and that's what it's doing, 2-0 now, with intriguing possibilities.

Ron Morris, Columbia State: Welcome to a new era of South Carolina football: Steve Spurrier's Fun ‘n’ Gun offense has been supplanted by his new Run ‘n’ Stun attack.

T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times: Welcome to the Coliseum, home of the USCheaters, "Fight on!" replaced by everyone in the athletic department now saying over and over, "Compliance."

Aaron McFarling, Roanoke Times: This was Romero stuff. A meteor from Mars. A mutated monkey virus. A Division I-AA team marching into Blacksburg and refusing to get pushed around by the big, bad Virginia Tech Hokies.

Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Iowa hasn’t won a game in its last six trips west of the Rockies, dating to 1987. That includes losses in California, Oregon, Hawaii, and two in the state to which the Hawkeyes head this week — Arizona. The average margin of Iowa’s losses in its last three games at Pacific 10 schools was 28 points.

George Schroeder, Eugene Register-Guard: It was Oregon 48, Tennessee 13 on Saturday night, and the temptation might be to talk about the rebuilding job that lies ahead of Volunteer coach Derek Dooley. Focus on this instead: These Ducks are very good. There’s a very good chance they’re going to get much better. It’s time to begin thinking really big.

John Adams, Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee can take more consolation from the schedule. There's probably no one else on it with an offense as explosive as Oregon's.

Neill Woelk, Boulder Daily Camera: No excuses? Indeed. There is no excuse for what happened to the Colorado Buffaloes. The Buffs were a) humiliated; B) embarrassed; c) outclassed, outplayed and outcoached; or d) all of the above. The answer is obvious. That's "d" as in dreadful — especially in light of what was supposed to be a new, improved version of the Buffs.

Israel Gutierrez, Miami Herald: Ohio State is very good. It might even be the best team in the country, and playing in the Horseshoe is no easy task. But at some point, this collection of talent on the Miami Hurricanes has to improve enough to win these types of games.

Dick Weiss, New York Daily News: Even though he was accorded iconic status, Joe Paterno looked and acted like a frustrated senior citizen as top-ranked Alabama rolled past his young, 18th-ranked team, 24-3.

Gordon Monson, Salt Lake Tribune: Brigham Young had an embarrassing, ridiculous problem in a 35-14 loss to Air Force. It could not effectively pass the ball. It had 88 yards through the air.

Sam Mellinger, Kansas City Star: A victory over Georgia Tech did wonders for the image of Kansas' Turner Gill.